Page 58 of Dying in Flames (Reborn 4)
Maya
Boisterous noisesfrom the hallway woke me from my attempt at sleep, the sound echoing down the space towards our cell door, which I watched with trepidation. I didn’t feel as brave as before, not this time around, because I had a feeling another interaction with these guards wouldn’t bode well for any of us. I especially didn’t want them coming near my mates.
Honestly, right now I was wishing it was Malcolm instead of them.
When the door slammed open, waking everyone, I tried to stand up. Anani’s hand darted out to grab my ankle, and I offered him a pleading look. I knew what he was trying to do, but he didn’t understand. Even if I was scared or hesitant, my phoenix refused to let this happen to our mates, and I couldn’t deny her that because I felt exactly the same.
The guards began to slam their weapons against the iron as I heard a growl emanate from Atlas’s chest, my eyes darting over to him and widening in the realization that he was finally up. Sai had only woken briefly before falling back asleep, but the relief from even seeing his eyes open had been immediate. It spurred me to pull away from Anani in a sharp movement that had him cursing.
“Wake up, you fucking monsters!” one of the guards yelled out, his accented voice filling the space. “The boss said one of you will be the lucky candidate for a new toy we got.”
I tried to step forward, but Marco offered a warning sound in my direction, making me hesitate and feel a bit guilty. I needed him to understand my reasoning. I knew he would because of how upset he got when I was hurt…but I didn’t have time to explain right now.
“So, who wants to volunteer?” another asked. “What about you?”
His eyes narrowed on Ember behind me as his smile grew. I moved in front of her, a dangerous noise coming from my throat.
“And we have a volunteer with a collar on already.” The guard motioned me forward.
“Isn’t that the one we aren’t—” The younger guard snapped his mouth shut when the one by the entrance of my cage shot him a look.
He smiled back at me. “It will be our little secret, won’t it?”
I jolted as Henry appeared right near the entrance of his cell, his voice a low, harsh whisper. “Maya, stop this right the fuck now—”
“No.” I turned sharply and kept my gaze serious. “No. I am not going to stop it. You guys have protected me this entire time; I am not letting anyone else get hurt. This is my fault, so I am going to stand in. I love you, Henry, I love you so much, but I need you to juststop.You are making this harder than it needs to be.”
“Angel.” Atlas's voice was tight and filled with sadness. I couldn’t meet his gaze, though. I could barely hold Henry’s without feeling guilty, knowing that this would hurt them… But it would hurt them more to be tortured by these horrible people.
I let the guards lead me out, grabbing me roughly by the hair, as I heard a roar and an explosion against the bars of the cell, then a hiss of pain. Through our bond, I knew one of them had just tried to throw themselves out of the cell.
The guards talked around me in fluent French, and I focused on keeping track of where we were going, noticing the door I’d been through earlier before taking a turn to the left. I looked up to see we once again had stone ceilings.So that room was the key to getting up and out of here.I had to keep that in mind.
Unfortunately, that train of thought had me distracted enough that when I was suddenly thrown into a room and my knees hit the cement, I let out a small whimper.
I was yanked up violently by my hair and turned sharply before being strapped into a chair. My breathing went rough as the two men stood over me, seemingly thrilled with the fear in my gaze.
“It’s a shame that we are only allowed to test our toys on her,” one of them said.
“I agree. I almost feel like we should have grabbed one of the men. I mean, we could do a lot more fun shit with her—”
I whimpered as his hand moved up my leg, and I went into full panic mode.
“Which is why you have me here,” a female voice snapped as the door closed. “You wanted to test out the blade. Fine. But no sexual trauma. The Master may forgive this, but he won’t forgive that. So get the fuck over yourself.”
Oh, thank god. I mean, screw the blade, but right now this lady was my favorite in the entire world. That was until she appeared over me and I found myself looking up into the gaze of someone who clearly very much hated me. I felt suddenly rocked to my core, realizing that she looked so startlingly familiar and like my ‘mother’ that there was only one possibility…
“That’s right, girl,” she bit out. “Bet my sister didn’t tell you that you had an aunt.”
“You are not my aunt, and she was not my mother,” I growled.
“You’re right. Because the only reason she got special fucking treatment is because of the shit she would do for Malcolm. Vile, disgusting shit that damned her soul. I heard that she’s dead. Did those boys of yours kill her? I figured they might have once you opened your legs for them. It will be interesting to see what else we can get them to do.”
I didn’t say anything, feeling anger run under my skin as she chuckled and stepped back.
“Doesn’t matter—you know why? Because that bastard isn’t in charge anymore. We have a new master, so in a way your action has been a blessing. Plus, you’re in luck tonight, because these two boys got shipments of blades from the Demonic realm they have been eager to use.”
Blades. I could deal with that… Right?
